Bowls Canada Boulingrin – Team Canada is ready for action at the Gold Coast 8 Nations Event at the Broadbeach Bowls Club in Gold Coast, Australia.

This five-day event will take place from June 3-7, and will feature teams from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. Due to a late withdrawal, Australia will field two teams to complete the field of eight. Disciplines of singles, pairs, triples, and fours will be featured throughout the course of this event.

All seven men and seven women from Canada’s Senior National Squads will be in attendance at the event. With the 2018 Commonwealth Games being held in Gold Coast next year, this event provides a great opportunity for Canada to prepare and test different lineups prior to the Games.

The men’s squad will rely on the expertise of Ryan Bester, who currently resides in Gold Coast and is the Bowls Co-ordinator for the Broadbeach Bowls Club. After winning a silver medal at the 2016 World Bowls Championships, Bester will be eager to lead the Canadian men’s squad to podium success.  

On the women’s side, frequent southern hemisphere players Kelly McKerihen (resident of Australia) and Leanne Chinery (resident of New Zealand) will look to lead the women’s squad. Pricilla Westlake will also add her expertise to the squad, having just claimed a gold medal at the World Youth Championships held at the same venue earlier this year. 

Bowls Canada Boulingrin’s Men’s and Women’s Senior National Squads are:

Men	Women
Ryan Bester	Leanne Chinery
Cameron Lefrense	Joanna Cooper
Kody Olthof	Shirley Fitzpatrick-Wong
Michael Pituley	Jackie Foster
Chris Stadnyk	Jordan Kos
Ryan Stadnyk	Kelly McKerihen
Greg Wilson	Pricilla Westlake

The team will be supported by Head Coach Terry Scott, High Performance Chair Don Caswell, and Team Managers Jean and Keith Roney.

“The multi-nations event is a start to a busy 16 months for the program” said Caswell. “This event will give our Senior Squad a real test playing some of the best bowlers in the world on maybe the best greens they have played on in their careers. From a program perspective, it will give us a chance to see al the Senior Squad players together and in different positions. We are going there to win, but also to learn. It should be a great experience for our athletes.”

Men’s pairs and triples and women’s singles and fours will be played from June 3 to June 4, while men’s singles and fours, and women’s pairs and triples will be played from June 5 to June 6. All of the medal matches will be played on June 7.

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For more information, please contact:
Jake Schuknecht, Technical Coordinator, Bowls Canada Boulingrin
jschuknecht@bowlscanada.com 

About Bowls Canada Boulingrin
Bowls Canada Boulingrin (BCB) is the governing body responsible for lawn bowls in Canada.  The BCB mission is to advance the sport of bowls in Canada.  For more details on Bowls Canada Boulingrin and the sport of lawn bowls, visit www.bowlscanada.com.